How do you read a line a book gives you?

Question

Lets say the line is steady at USC -4 and my book gives me USC -3.5, that usually tells me USC covers tonight. If it was USC-4.5 Stanford would be the play for me. He gave 3.5 so it&#x27;s USC for me tonight! Any insight or thoughts on this?

IHate2Lose · Answer

Lets say the line is steady at USC -4 and my book gives me USC -3.5, that usually tells me USC covers tonight. If it was USC-4.5 Stanford would be the play for me. He gave 3.5 so it&#x27;s USC for me tonight! Any insight or thoughts on this?

thorpe · Answer

He gives you a slightly better line and you help balance his action.  Be mindful of key numbers, 9/9.5 is not a big deal, but 3/3.5 is huge...

GhostOfCap · Answer

You are thinking too much. Whatever was going to happen in this game was always going to happen no matter what line your book gave you. There are no alternate universes. There is no 75 out of 100 times. There is just 1 time. At the end of the day, the result of the game is independent on the line that was posted. There is nothing tangible intact before the game begins to suggest that an underdog of 3.5 is NOT the play and that same underdog of 4.5 IS the play ... Other than, of course, the fact that an underdog is inherently more likely to cover if it gets an extra point. That is just math. The line your bookie gives you, the percentage of bets on the favorite, the percentage of "smart&#x27; money on the underdog -- none of it actually exists on the football field.

How do you read a line a book gives you?

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